Freedom to Marry Week 2007 News
Couples say 'I do' at Freedom to Marry Day in OH
The BG News
February 28, 2007
Vision, the Bowling Green University's GLBTQ student organization, celebrated National Freedom to Marry Day Feb. 27. The event was supposed to occur on Feb. 12, but the snow days prevented the event from occurring.
Marriage emphasized at reception
Windy City Times
February 21, 2007
The Sixth Annual Freedom to Marry Reception was hosted Feb. 15 in Chicago. The free reception was sponsored by Lambda Legal, Merrill Lynch, and The Aragon Ballroom, and spotlighted efforts to support equal marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples.
The anniversary party
New York Magazine
February 20, 2007
When attorney Evan Wolfson created the first Freedom to Marry Day ten years ago this month, "we didn't have marriage equality anywhere on the planet," he says. Not only that, but Wolfson, a Harvard Law buddy of Eliot and Silda Wall Spitzer, was terminally single. ("I'd always say, 'Those who can't do, litigate.'") We checked in with guests at the Chelsea loft party feting the anniversary and Wolfson's 50th birthday on changes in their conjugal status since February 1997.
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BLOG: Marriage equality advocates gear up for battles in New England, other states
Page One Q
February 20, 2007
"It all comes down to one question: Either civil unions and marriage are the same, in which case why do we need two lines at the clerk's office, or they are not the same, in which case, what is the government withholding, and why should it," Evan Wolfson told PageOneQ. "And I think our opponents have no answer to that question."
China holds first Freedom to Marry Day protest
Pink News
February 19, 2007
On Valentine's Day, Beijing's gay population protested for marriage equality. This was the Freedom to Marry Day event in China. In addition, many by-standers supported the protesters. "I think it's only fair; it's everybody's right to get married," Liu Peng, one of the crowd who watched the protest, told the Advocate. "I support them. I think it's great."
Couples gather for gay rights
The Daily Texan
February 19, 2007
It was unusually warm at the end of a week that charted record low temperatures only days before. More than 100 people welcomed a resurgence of sunshine Saturday at the City Hall plaza for the culmination of national Freedom to Marry Week.
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BLOG: Freedom to marry
The Soccer Mom Vote
February 18, 2007
Truth is, marriage isn't just about love. (Shhh, don't tell my husband.) Yes, I think love and romance and all of that can be elements of a marriage, but they aren't necessary or sufficient to call a relationship a marriage. We all know married people who no longer love one another, and we all know people who love one another without being married (and sometimes, in addition to the people they are married to).
BLOG: Freedom to Marry Week wrapup
Mombian
February 18, 2007
Our blogger friend Mombian takes us through her week of blogging about Freedom to Marry Week.
Freedom to Marry Voice of Equality Marina Gatto joins Valentine's Day rally
The Daily Californian
February 15, 2007
The day opened with a rally in San Mateo, where UC Berkeley freshman and gay rights activist Marina Gatto hosted a group that included Assemblymember Mark Leno, D-San Francisco and state Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco/San Mateo. Gatto, whose mothers Ramona and Arzu have been together for 10 years and who became Leno's goddaughter when she was nine, said she hoped the events would educate the public and influence Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
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A red-letter day
For Valentine's Day, and in observance of the 10th annual Freedom to Marry Week, the Metropolitan Community Church of Ocala recognized seven couples who are in long-term, committed relationships, but cannot be legally married.
A Valentine's Day rally for equality
Empire State Pride Agenda this week organized rallies in Rochester and New York City. Same-sex couples and their supporters participating in the rally carried large paper hearts, some of which indicated how long a couple had been together, what their relationship was to a particular same-sex couple or a variety of other messages in support of marriage equality in general.
OPINION: Someday, denied license will be relic of injustice
Forty years from now, when students of history learn that there were once laws that barred gay and lesbian couples from marrying, they are going to shake their heads at the injustice of it.
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CA clerks join marriage fight
A decade-old Valentine's Day ritual — same-sex couples showing up at government office seeking marriage licenses — took on a slightly more hopeful hue Wednesday in some parts of Northern California. That's because, at some offices, gay and lesbian partners gained outspoken support from elected county clerks who lamented that state law forced them to turn them away.
Same-sex marriage supporters rally for their cause at RI State House
"I am the pastor of a church that recognizes that same-sex marriage is God's will. And I personally believe that same-sex marriage is a part of God's plan. To believe otherwise is unthinkable to us," Dyszlewski said. "To believe otherwise is to imagine that in creating diversity in nature God made a mistake. What's even worse is to imagine that in creating humanity God made a mistake."
OPINION: Freedom to Marry Week call to action by mayor of Eugene, OR
The mayor of Eugene, OR, writes, "This week, I hope the people of Eugene will join me in honoring Freedom to Marry Week, in recognition of the desire of all committed couples, gay or straight, to have their relationships recognized — not in a symbolic way, but in all ways legal, spiritual and philosophical."
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Many thanks on this 10th annual Freedom to Marry Week
Evan's full Freedom to Marry Day remarks where he discusses the important achievements from Freedom to Marry Day in 1997 through to today.
BLOG: Mombian Freedom to Marry blog carnival
It's Carnival time! Here is a festive collection of posts on marriage equality to read while you nibble your Valentine's Day chocolates. Personal, political, economic . . . we've got them all. Thanks to all of you who contributed, and to those whose posts I included just because I liked them. I've noted straight allies below because I think it's important that people realize marriage equality isn't just part of the mythical "homosexual agenda."
BLOG: 10th anniversary of Freedom To Marry Day, Evan Wolfson's 50th birthday
Last night, my long time friend and mentor, Evan Wolfson, celebrated his birthday and the tenth annual commemoration of Freedom To Marry Day, surrounded by two hundred friends, family, and supporters last night at the beautiful loft home of Broadway producer Marc Routh and art dealer Asher Remy Toledo.
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The rights stuff
On Valentine's Day, while others trade heart-shaped boxes of chocolates and prepare for romantic dinners, Manteca resident Judy Deane will get in line at the county clerk's office to request a marriage license.
Marriage about rights, same-sex couples say
The fight to marry for many same sex couples isn't merely about lifelong love or making a political statement. It's also about tax benefits, property ownership, retirement pensions — and 1,138 other federal privileges granted to married couples. That was the core message at the Marriage Equality Forum on Sunday afternoon at the Stanislaus County Library in downtown Modesto.
BLOG: Freedom to Marry Week
This week is Freedom to Marry week promoted by the group Freedom to Marry, the gay and non-gay partnership working to win marriage equality nationwide. Initially, I was tempted to make a correlation between gay marriage and interracial marriage. It's a convenient argument for me as the man I love is actually "The Man." However, no matter how uncomfortable people are with my interracial relationship, they dislike same sex couples "pushing their gayness" even more. So instead, I bring you a tale of an interracial, gay relationship — with kids.
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BLOG: Freedom to Marry Week Day One
It's the first day of Freedom to Marry Week, and I'm taking the suggestion of Kelly at O for Obsessive and posting something each day about marriage equality.
OPINION: Today begins Freedom to Marry Week
We're waiting to get married until New York laws catch up with the reality of our family. We believe our family deserves not special rights, but an equal right to the hundreds of tangible and intangible benefits that legal marriage brings. We will be celebrating Valentine's Day, but we will also mark this as Freedom to Marry Week, along with thousands of other same-sex couples.
'I did'
Same-sex couples await the day they can repeat their wedding vows.
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BLOG: Gearing up for Freedom to Marry Week
If you're reading this and you have a blog, please consider posting every day from February 11 to 17 on the topic of marriage equality. If you don't have a blog but read them frequently, please comment and mention marriage equality. If you don't know anything about the issues, please take a little time to educate yourself.
The marrying men
A Houston couple who wed a year ago during Freedom To Marry Week participates again during the 10th anniversary of observances advocating full marriage rights for all Americans.
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Why Marriage Matters America, Equality, and Gay People's Right to Marry.
By Evan Wolfson
Read reviews! Purchase the book or receive a signed copy as a thank you for your donation!
Read families’ stories about how marriage discrimination affects everyday life. These stories communicate, in concrete ways, how the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage hurts families and helps no one.
Start in The Marriage Basics to get short answers to your big questions about the freedom to marry, and learn more about the protections and responsibilities of marriage, the historical background for this civil rights movement, why separate is not equal, and so much more.
